Assessment Begins

Chapter 041: The Assessment Begins

With his Body of Thunder, Qin Shaofeng had no trouble learning the lightning armor ninjutsu, a thunder-elemental escape technique. He realized that learning System skills truly required specific innate conditions. If he hadn't possessed the Body of Thunder, he likely wouldn't have been able to learn this thunder-elemental technique. Furthermore, if Qin Shaofeng wanted to learn other ninjutsu, he would need to possess other physiques. Of course, this didn't necessarily mean needing special physiques like a fire or water body; a fire-elemental physique would suffice. Not all physiques needed to be overly powerful to learn other ninjutsu.

Thunder Escape: Lightning Armor: Level 1 (0/100), a Human-grade Three-star Skill. It summons lightning to attach to the body, forming a lightning armor that enhances the player's defense and resists enemy attacks. Currently at Level 1, it can summon low-level lightning to form a low-level lightning armor. Maintaining the lightning armor for one minute consumes 100 Inner Qi points.

After learning Lightning Armor, Qin Shaofeng didn't leave his room. Even if he did, as someone merely qualified to participate in the assessment, he couldn't leave the designated living area for participants. Thus, for the next two days, Qin Shaofeng stayed in his room, frantically cultivating Lightning Armor. Through intense practice to increase proficiency, Qin Shaofeng managed to raise Lightning Armor to Level 2 in just two days. This was largely thanks to his Level 2 Yi Jin Jing, which not only granted him 2750 Inner Qi points but also a regeneration rate of 5 Inner Qi points per minute. Without this, no amount of frantic cultivation would have allowed him to reach Level 2 Lightning Armor in such a short time.

Level 2 Lightning Armor was not significantly different from Level 1, though its defensive capabilities were considerably improved. If Level 1 Lightning Armor allowed Qin Shaofeng to ignore attacks from opponents of the same realm or even one realm higher, then the defense of Level 2 Lightning Armor was sufficient to let him ignore the attacks of most martial artists below the Houtian realm. The Inner Qi consumption per minute remained unchanged at 100 points. Qin Shaofeng wasn't too concerned about this. With Level 2 Lightning Armor, his confidence in winning first place in the assessment grew.

The moment Qin Shaofeng upgraded Lightning Armor to Level 2, Du Meng came to find him. However, seeing Du Meng again, Qin Shaofeng was quite startled. Du Meng was no longer in the early stage of the Houtian Tenth Layer but had reached the mid-stage. His Inner Qi had also increased, reaching exactly 2000 points. Qin Shaofeng knew that Du Meng had only broken through to the Houtian Tenth Layer less than half a month ago. To advance from the early to the mid-stage in such a short time was quite alarming. Du Meng wasn't like him, Qin Shaofeng, who had the System to boost his level. Advancing a minor realm in just half a month, especially a minor realm within the Houtian Tenth Layer, would cause a significant stir if it got out. Qin Shaofeng asked Du Meng if his future master had been giving him special training. Thinking about it, Qin Shaofeng felt a pang of envy for Du Meng. It was indeed better to have influential backing.

But Du Meng's response left Qin Shaofeng speechless. His master hadn't given him any special training; instead, he had beaten him soundly. Qin Shaofeng then learned that Du Meng was practicing a special body-tempering technique where being beaten also improved his strength. At this, Qin Shaofeng's envy vanished. He absolutely would not practice such a masochistic technique, no matter how fast it improved one's strength. Improving one's realm by taking beatings – what kind of method was that! Du Meng, however, didn't seem to mind. He was actually quite happy, as according to his future master, with his current strength, entering the top twenty in the recruitment assessment wouldn't be a problem. If he performed exceptionally well, even the top ten was possible!

Hearing Du Meng's words, Qin Shaofeng's mind stirred, and he proposed a spar with Du Meng. When Du Meng heard Qin Shaofeng suggest a spar, his first reaction was to shake his head vigorously and say in a deep voice, "Brother Feng, let's forget it. I'm afraid I might hurt you!" If Qin Shaofeng hadn't known Du Meng's personality, he might have thought Du Meng was looking down on him. But knowing Du Meng, Qin Shaofeng understood that he was speaking the truth and wasn't looking down on him at all. "Mengzi, don't worry. Your Brother Feng isn't that frail!" Qin Shaofeng said with a slight smile. However, Du Meng then seriously sized him up and said hesitantly, "Brother Feng, your physique really does look a bit frail!" Damn it! My physique is already great! At sixteen, I'm 1.7 meters tall and weigh over 120 pounds, which is quite standard! But Qin Shaofeng soon realized that Mengzi was judging him based on his own physique, which made Qin Shaofeng want to laugh and cry. Don't compare yourself to a normal person; your physique is already beyond human!

Finally, at Qin Shaofeng's strong insistence, Du Meng reluctantly agreed to fight him. However, Du Meng initially decided not to use his full strength. But soon, he realized he was wrong! What happened that night, and what was the outcome of the spar between Qin Shaofeng and Du Meng, remained unknown to anyone but the participants. However, whenever Du Meng recalled that night's spar in the future, he would say, "It was from that night onwards that Brother Feng became an incredible person in my eyes."

The next morning, Qin Shaofeng and Du Meng walked out of their rooms early.

In reality, neither of them had slept at all.

The spar last night had been decided not long after it began.

Qin Shaofeng had to admit that Du Meng's physique was no joke; he was truly thick-skinned and tough!

Initially, Du Meng, who didn't think Qin Shaofeng was a match for him, didn't attack. Instead, he stood still and let Qin Shaofeng attack him.

What left Qin Shaofeng speechless was that he really couldn't do anything to Du Meng.

Du Meng's defense was astonishing; he completely ignored Qin Shaofeng's attacks.

Qin Shaofeng's Wudang Long Fist and Huashan Basic Swordplay Moves were completely ineffective against Du Meng. After attacking for a while, Qin Shaofeng finally understood that attacks below the Houtian Tenth Layer couldn't harm Du Meng at all.

Finally, Qin Shaofeng activated his Lightning Armor.

While practicing the Lightning Armor two days ago, Qin Shaofeng discovered that whenever he unleashed the Lightning Armor, his Body of Thunder would trigger, and his attacks would carry the Power of Thunder.

This made a huge difference.

The Wudang Long Fist, now imbued with the Power of Thunder, finally overwhelmed Du Meng's defenses.

Although he still didn't sustain any serious injuries, the Power of Thunder made Du Meng feel like he was being electrocuted. Every punch Qin Shaofeng threw sent tremors through Du Meng's body as if he were being shocked.

This finally forced Du Meng to counterattack.

But soon, Du Meng realized something was wrong.

What had happened to Qin Shaofeng earlier was now happening to him.

He attacked, but Qin Shaofeng defended against it.

Moreover, every time his fist landed on Qin Shaofeng, it was repelled by an electric spark, and he suffered an electric shock.

Qin Shaofeng's Lightning Armor was invisible to ordinary people. Only when Qin Shaofeng was attacked would faint sparks appear.

At first, Du Meng's attacks were cautious, fearing he might injure Qin Shaofeng. But as his strength increased, and when Du Meng finally attacked with all his might, he finally understood one thing clearly.

That was, in terms of defense, he couldn't compare to Qin Shaofeng!

This realization completely stunned Du Meng.

However, Du Meng didn't know that Qin Shaofeng wasn't having an easy time either.

Although the Lightning Armor could block Du Meng's attacks, preventing him from sustaining any real damage, his Inner Qi was being consumed at an accelerated rate when Du Meng attacked.

This taught Qin Shaofeng that while maintaining the Lightning Armor cost 100 Inner Qi per minute, the consumption of Inner Qi increased dramatically when he encountered an attack.

This Lightning Armor was good, but unfortunately, its cost was too high!

His attacks were ineffective, and he was being electrocuted instead. This left Du Meng very confused and frustrated.

But soon, Du Meng was pleasantly surprised to find that while he was being electrocuted, his body was undergoing subtle improvements.

It seemed that because of the lightning from Qin Shaofeng, combined with Du Meng's special self-abusive body-tempering technique, the electric shocks were causing his physique to improve.

It was as if his body was being tempered by lightning!

This discovery truly confirmed for Qin Shaofeng that Du Meng's cultivation technique was a brain-dead, masochistic one!

However, since his Lightning Armor was helping Du Meng improve his strength, Qin Shaofeng had no intention of stopping. The spar eventually turned into Du Meng's self-improvement session.

It wasn't until the sky began to lighten that the two finally stopped and began to take pills to recover.

Although the time was short, Du Meng's strength had improved considerably, giving him the confidence to enter the top ten.

The pills were provided by Du Meng, and they were Inner Qi recovery pills of Mortal-grade three-star level.

In just one hour, Qin Shaofeng's depleted Inner Qi was fully restored, and even his mental state was completely recovered.

Stepping out of the room, Qin Shaofeng and Du Meng headed towards the designated location.

Today was the day of Lianyang Academy's enrollment assessment.

Qin Shaofeng had stayed in his room for the past two days and had no idea how many people were participating in this assessment.

As for Du Meng, there was no need to even mention him. With his personality, he wouldn't pay attention to such matters.

However, looking at the sea of people now, Qin Shaofeng finally understood that the number of participants in this enrollment assessment was likely far more than a hundred thousand.

Lianyang City, where Lianyang Academy was located, was divided into four gates: east, west, north, and south. The enrollment assessment began simultaneously at the four city gates. Qin Shaofeng and Du Meng were at the East Gate.

Qin Shaofeng wasn't sure how many people were at the other three gates, but just at the East Gate, there were hundreds of assessment locations.

Despite arriving early, Qin Shaofeng and Du Meng found themselves at the end of a long queue.

There was no opening ceremony. As soon as the appointed time arrived, the people at the front of the line began the assessment.

The first stage, age and cultivation assessment, was relatively convenient.

From a small booklet, Qin Shaofeng learned that Lianyang Academy had special tools for detecting age and cultivation, so it wouldn't take much time.

It was the final strength assessment that would take some time.

It was said that the final strength assessment involved fighting against puppets in a separate room.

Qin Shaofeng wasn't sure about the specifics of the combat, but he did know that the more puppets one defeated, the better their results would be.